SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah lawmakers wrapped their annual session Thursday after having hustled through an education funding deal and backing away from divisive plans to name a scenic highway after President Donald Trump and repeal the death penalty.

Legislators also used their racing, 45-day session to set a nearly $17 billion budget, drop the state’s income tax rates and attempt to curtail a number of looming ballot initiatives.

They cut a deal to find more money for schools as part of an agreement with backers of a ballot initiative who sought to hike sales and income taxes for education.

That agreement would instead freeze property taxes and ask voters in November whether lawmakers should raise gas taxes by 10 cents a gallon. It’s estimated to boost education spending by $375 million, less than ballot initiative backers had been pushing for but without the risk of failure at the ballot box.

Frustrated residents are gearing up to take several more issues to the ballot after years of the Republican-controlled Legislature rejecting the ideas, including proposals to allow broad use of medical marijuana and expand Medicaid.

Lawmakers considered a bill that would let them change any successfully passed initiatives before they go into effect, but the measure failed in the Senate.

It was among several heated proposals pushed forward this year by the House of Representatives, the feistier, larger chamber. Other proposals sought to strengthen the state’s stand-your-ground self-defense law, bar abortions based on a diagnosis of Down syndrome and name a scenic highway after President Donald Trump in appreciation for downsizing two national monuments.

All three measures failed in the final days of the session. The Legislature’s attorneys warned that the abortion ban would likely be unconstitutional, and Rep. Mike Noel, the sponsor of the Trump highway proposal, said he shelved the idea because he received too much blowback and negative attention from Trump critics.

Republican House Speaker Greg Hughes said he would have gotten behind the idea.

Hughes, who announced in January he would not seek re-election after 15 years in the Legislature, used his last session to throw his political clout behind efforts to repeal the death penalty and try to prevent school shootings.

With the death penalty, Hughes appealed to his colleagues’ libertarian leanings, arguing that ending capital punishment should be a conservative position. The measure failed to win enough support to pass the House.

He also backed a bill to allow police to temporarily seize the guns of those deemed to be a threat, but the measure, introduced in the session’s final days, also failed.

Hughes said Thursday he was disappointed the efforts didn’t prevail, but he believes the conversations will continue.

Other highly-anticipated measures that failed to gain approval included a proposal to strengthen the state’s hate crimes law with protections for gay and transgender people. For the second year in a row, the measure never got a hearing.

Several lawmakers tried to delay or repeal Utah’s new DUI threshold set to take effect in December, arguing the new strictest-in-the-country 0.05 percent limit would hurt the state’s reputation.

Supporters said it would save lives because people start to become impaired with their first drink.

Another alcohol rule was poised to be repealed Thursday. A much-ridiculed law requiring restaurants to post signs declaring that they are “a restaurant, not a bar,” and bars to declare they are “not a restaurant,” was headed to the governor’s desk.

Kaysville Republican Rep. Brad Wilson, who sponsored a 2017 law requiring the signs, said he moved to repeal them because they were not “terribly effective” and the state had received complaints. His change would still require bars to post a sign making it clear those under 21 are not allowed in.

Lawmakers also bookmarked $1.65 million in the budget to launch a lawsuit against California over rules that make coal-fired power more expensive. Utah GOP legislators argue California’s policies violate the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause and hurt coal miners in rural Utah.

Gov. Gary Herbert initially said the cost of the lawsuit seems “exorbitant” and suggested that the coal industry foot the bill, but he said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday that he’s open to approving it. The Republican said he’s learned more about the legal theory and said, “I feel a lot of better about it.”

The session was also marked by allegations in February that former Republican Rep. Jon Stanard, a Republican who abruptly resigned days earlier, had purchased at least two hotel rooms with taxpayer money that he was accused of using to meet up with a prostitute.

Stanard’s attorney declined to comment on the allegations, first published by the DailyMail.com. Utah House chief of staff Greg Hartley said in a statement Thursday that Stanard will be asked to reimburse about $225 used to pay for the rooms.